Keep Holding On
by Kasasagi
Summary: "I'm sorry," Matthew muttered, "but my father died and I'm not planning on letting anyone take his place just yet" But even though he said that, his mother still married that American and he still wound up living in the same house as him and his son. PruCan, high school AU, human names used


**Yay, my first actually posted piece of work... I'm feeling proud.  
****So, um yeah... Thanks for reading this, I guess... Is it obvious, I really don't know what to say?**

* * *

**Keep holding on**

Prologue: How hell started

Matthew Williams has never had much to say about his life. It wasn't specifically amazing or terrible. No. It was just plain boring. Until one day, everything got turned upside down.

It was Saturday, and like every week, he was busy playing a hockey game. So far, nothing was decided yet, and it was already break, so you can imagine nobody was overjoyed. But it wasn't like this never happened before.

There was actually nothing wrong with Matthew's day until his mother decided to pay him a visit in the locker room.

He groaned when he saw her and muttered "Mom, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Can't I cheer on my cute team captain in person?"

The Canadian heard the rest of his team mates snicker and threw them a poisonous glare before deciding that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to take his mother outside and talk to her there.

"What did you want to tell me?"

His mother seemed to practically glow from happiness when she looked up again.

"Remember that American colleague I told you about?"

Matthew vaguely remembered his mother squealing like a teenage girl about some weird American she met at a congress and that actually just gave him the urge to throw up.

"What about him?" he replied, trying very hard not to sound as mortified as he was feeling.

"He's here with his son at the moment," his mother said all happy and giggly.

But that wasn't the part that ruined his day (or the rest of his life, for that matter). It was what followed. "And he asked me to marry him, isn't that great?"

The boy looked at his mother with an expression of complete and utter horror and tried desperately to keep his breakfast in his stomach.

"Mattie is everything alright?"

He shook his head. "I think I'm going to be sick"

* * *

They were sitting in the cafeteria, waiting for Matthew, who was taking as long as possible to get changed, just so that he wouldn't have to meet this guy for another ten minutes.

Of course he'd expected his mother to remarry somebody after his father died, she was still young and needed somebody by her side.

But he hadn't expected it so soon. And he definitely wished he'd actually seen this guy _before_ the whole marriage ordeal.

Sadly, he knew his mother was serious.

And once Emily Williams got an idea, it was quite impossible talking sense into her. She could be terribly stubborn at times, and how Matthew had cursed those times.

"There's my boy!" his mother exclaimed proudly when Matthew finally sat down at the table with his mother and two people who could as well have been total strangers.

"Hey, mom" he said softly while setting down his bag and hockey stick.

"Good game" the grown up man at the table said, probably trying to start a conversation.

Matthew shrugged "I've played better ones. The opposing team surprisingly wasn't as bad as it usually is. They've probably got a new coach."

"Dude, are you kidding? That was totally awesome! I wish people got shoved against the walls at the hockey games at my school!" the other boy said way too enthusiastically to be healthy.

"Don't people hit the boards at your school games? Man, I think sometimes somebody even gets a concussion from hitting them too hard here, how bad do you guys play?" a random team mate of Matthew laughed while walking by.

"Please get lost Elliot," the Canadian muttered quietly while taking a sip from his cup of hot cocoa.

Elliot just raised his hands and walked by with a look of pity towards his team captain.

A more than awkward silence settled over the table as Matthew simply drunk his cocoa and ignored everything that was said to him or shrugged it off with a simple '_uhu_' or '_no'_.

"Matthew, you're really making this hard on us all, please try to be a little more accepting." Emily pleaded after half an hour of her son's stubbornness.

Matthew just looked at her blankly.

"I'm sorry," he muttered quietly. "But my father just died, and I'm not planning on letting anyone take his place just yet."

After saying that, he stood up and picked up his stuff. "I'll ask Elliot if he can give me a lift."

"Matthew, where do you think you're going?" his mother said sharply.

"To dad." Was the simple reply.

"Stop and get back here right now!" she hissed.

"Make me."

It went dead silent.

"Yeah, I thought so too." Matthew muttered and he walked up to Elliot to ask if he could drive him to the cemetery.

* * *

"Hey, dad," the boy muttered quietly. "I know I haven't really visited you lately, and I'm really sorry for that. But I've just had a lot on my mind lately."

The picture of his father stared him in the face, frozen in a happy expression. He looked so peaceful and healthy.

This was the way he wanted to remember his dad, as a happy person that could always cheer people up. Not the person lying on the bed all day long, always looking tired.

"We really beat those hosers today, I can still see the look on the face of one of them, if looks could kill, I'd be beside you right now…" the wind rustled through his hair.

"Mom wants to remarry, she probably already told you. I know you probably want her to do it, me too, I guess, anything to see her being happy again… But I guess I'm just a bit of an egoist too, I don't want to imagine her with somebody, anybody, but you. It makes me feel like she's forgotten you."

The boy sighed. "I don't know what to do right now." he admitted, "I wish you would still be here and I didn't have to go through this right now…It even seems like you've never really been there. I don't even have your last name. All that's alive to remind me of you is Francis, and he's not really such a great person to recognise you in. But even he didn't stay, he moved to the states last year… I just don't know what to do right now. I don't think I can let another person in my life yet, it's too soon."

A hand on his shoulder called him back to reality. Matthew turned his head to see his mother standing there.

"Why didn't you just tell me?" she asked softly. "Why don't you ever talk to me Matthew?"

"I don't want to make things harder on you than they already are."

"Matthew, I-"

"You did the right thing, it's what he would've wanted. He seems like the right guy."

A silent understanding passed between the two.

Emily knew Matthew didn't want to let go just yet, his heart was still here. But he'd try and make the best of it. He'd follow her around until she could settle down and go on without him.

"Let's go home."

"Where is home for you now, exactly?"


End file.
